European Geosciences Union, Climate of the Past, 5(9), p. 2285-2298, 2013
European Geosciences Union, Climate of the Past Discussions, 3(9), p. 2889-2928
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Multi-proxy climate recorded from peatlands have been used to tracer the climate change during the Holocene. The initiation of peatland may be related to a change to colder and or wetter climate, and the variations in peat composition reflect changes in precipitation and temperature. Peat has been used as an archive to reconstruct climate change over the Holocene (e.g., Shotyk et al., 1998; Sapkota et al., 2006). To characterize the climate in Belgium, a 570 cm-long core from Misten peat bog was studied. Several radiocarbon ages allow to define an accurate age model, the peat core represents 5500 years of record. The analyses of REE and lithogenic element contents, as well as the Nd isotopes, were performed by HR-ICP-MS and MC-ICP-MS. Peat humification, C/N ratio, ash content and bulk density were used to evaluate local hydroclimatic conditions. The dust deposition ranges from 0.03 to 4 g m -2 yr -1. As a first observation the highest rates of atmospheric dust deposition correspond to cold periods. The Nd values show large variability, between +1 to –22, identifying three major sources of dusts falling into the peat: local soils, distal volcanic and desert particles. Further studies are in progress to better identify the main forcing factor on the evolution of the atmospheric dust deposition over the Holocene. ; Peer reviewed